SCHENECTADY – Scotia-Glenville senior Isabel Amurao remembered how it felt to come up just short of winning a sectional title.
She was determined not to feel that way again.
On Wednesday afternoon, No. 2 seed Amurao defeated the top-seeded defending Section 2 and state girls’ tennis champion Jolie Chichak of Shenendehowa in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3, to win the Section 2 singles championship.
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“It feels amazing, especially because I’ve played Jolie so many times. I played her three times last season, and I lost all three times,” Amurao said. “Especially at sectionals last year, I lost really badly. I felt better going into this year since we had a close match earlier in the season, and I won that match.”
“She believed,” said Scotia-Glenville head coach Geoff Olson. “I’ve never had a player, girl or boy, prepare and want it as much as her.”
Amurao trailed Shen sophomore Chichak early on in both sets of the championship match, but was able to find her way back.
“In the first set she was down, and then in the second set she got down again 3-2, before she reeled off four in a row,” Olson said. “Isabel was able to get her feet set on every ball. Even when Jolie had her running off to the side, Isabel was able to set and hit, which was amazing to me. It’s hard to imagine the strength and shape she has to be in to hit those shots. Jolie had her going back and forth, but Isabel really didn’t have to hit shots on the run, she got there and hit her ball.”
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“I think I started out making a couple unforced errors. I was definitely nervous at the beginning,” Amurao said. “I knew I had to settle in, and after I played a couple games I felt better and was able to execute my strategy.”
The script was flipped from the Section 2 finals and state quarterfinals in 2025, when Chichak topped Amurao in both matches. Amurao and Chichak are friends outside of school competition, and have competed as a doubles team in non-scholastic tournaments.
“They’re friends off the court, hang out on the weekends and they play with each other,” Olson said. “I think that was a tough aspect of it, to have to come in and play (against) your friend. I mean, they’re hanging out right now (after the championship match).”
“My first official match with her, I remember, was outside at Sportime … and I won that match,” Amurao recalled. “From then on, I’ve been on a long losing streak until this year.
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“This whole match was so much fun, especially because I love playing Jolie.”
Guilderland’s Angela Li and Meghan Uzzilia won the Section 2 doubles championship with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Niskayuna’s Ava Ehrlich and Vibha Lanka.
While No. 3 Ehrlich and Lanka sparked a late rally to tie the second set 4-4, the top-seeded Li and Uzzilia were able to take back the momentum to seal the title.
“We’ve been playing together the last five years, and we’ve always been up there, but we’ve never gotten the top spot,” Uzzilia said. “It’s so crazy (to win), and so meaningful.”
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Section 2 will send four competitors from singles competition and three doubles teams to the NYSPHSAA tournament, which runs next week from Monday to Wednesday at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, Queens.
In the third-place singles match, No. 3 seed Eliza Amirbekian of Bethlehem defeated No. 5 seed Lydia Koivula of Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake 6-2, 6-4. Amirbekian and Koivula will both join Amurao and Chichak at states.
In the doubles third-place match, the fourth-seeded team Nazik Gheith and Brooklyn Kelling of Saratoga Springs beat the second-seeded team of Shaker’s Arya Bala and Diya Bala 6-4, 6-1, to secure a bid to states.
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This article originally published at Scotia-Glenville’s Amurao knocks off defending sectional, state champ Chichak to win Section 2 girls’ tennis title.
